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Discussion on: Your first interview as a software engineer

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darkliahos profile image
Sohail Nasir

Interesting question, While it certainly doesn't hurt to know algorithms/data structures, I feel it is important to know in which situation you use them in, if you want to put them on your CV/resume. I know in university we were told that in order to get a job you had to revise an entire book about design patterns and be able to quote stuff like dynamic connectivity, etc. What we were not told is how you would present them to an interviewer.

I have known some of my peers at university who could quote an entire lecture on quick find algorithms but not quite understood it but found interviewers would constantly challenge them about where they used it and sometimes the interviewer would give them a problem to solve and they would try and mold the problem to use quick find.

In interviews I have not really been asked questions around computer science in general but I have only really gone for junior - mid level software development positions but I have interviewed at a range of companies from small one man shows to multinational corporations in the UK.

I will finish up by saying, every company is different, each interviewer has their own opinion and ways of trying to suss out whether you are up to the job or not. Whether or not knowing this stuff is exaggerated, I feel it is certainly worth knowing basics and knowing where and when to use them but it is not a death knell to your career if you don't know.

Hopefully this answers your question.